Today I am writing my blog about change involving critical issues as discussed in chapter 12 of the book “Exploring Leadership” by Susan Komives, Nance Lucas, and Timothy McMahon. The book discusses the difficulty in approaching situations where change is critical and the task can seem overwhelming and impossible to begin. This causes a feeling of hopelessness and often results in no serious changes. In order to tame a daunting task the book suggests asking yourself some questions about where to focus your efforts and energy and relating them to the Social Change Model. Which issues are you the most passionate about? Are you willing to take the time and make the sacrifices to work on these issues? Are you willing to face the challenges associated with this issue? Which issues will get the most people interested and involved? Which issues can you really make an impact?
This topic of approaching difficult tasks that seem very intimidating most reminds me of the predicament that our world is facing today with regards to climate change. I can relate this overwhelming problem to the approach described in the book on many scales. People are making efforts to battle climate change by making small changes in their daily lives to global organizations developing emissions goals and environmental policy changes. I believe this topic to be the most daunting the world has ever faced and requires the greatest effort for people all over the world to come together and change in order to preserve our home. Many people believe that they are too small to make an impact and don’t know where to begin or are not willing to make the changes that are necessary.
As proposed in the adapted Social Change Model for critical issues a person can begin to make a difference by asking themselves the questions put forth earlier in this blog as pertaining to climate change. For some people the changes may be small and for others they may be large depending on a persons energy put into it, the sacrifices they are willing to make, the courage they approach the situation with, the amount of people they are able to recruit, and their choice in which issues to focus on.
I believe that because people in general are not willing to change their lifestyle which they have become so accustomed to it is the responsibility of governments around the world to come together and make these tough decisions for them. The world is approaching a tipping point with regards to climate change similar to that discussed in the beginning of chapter 11 of “Exploring Leadership”. What I mean by that is that people have been polluting the world for a while now with very few consequences and we are nearing the point where we will be forced to face those consequences. If the world does not come together and realize that this issue is of the utmost importance and put forth the most energy, involve as many people as possible, and focus on the root of the problem the world will face extremely harsh times.
Here is a link to a trailer for the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, if you haven’t seen it, you should check it out. It may seem like fiction or government propaganda, but it’s not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XMn_Ry3z6M
